NYPIRG: Lobbyists gave more than $2 million to campaigns

Here’s NYPIRG’s Legislative Director Blair Horner and resident number cruncher/spreadsheet whiz Bill Mahoney, revealing a survey they just released of lobbyists and how much they have given to political campaigns. It’s not a surprise that it’s a lot, but the sheer scope of these numbers, as outlined below, is notable.

Horner noted that 31 states have some restrictions on lobbyists, lobbying firms and what they can give — New York is among those that don’t. They support legislation that would restrict lobbyist giving, both in terms of dollars and to the representatives pertinent to their home districts.

“We want lobbyists to be measured by the depth of their knowledge on the issues, not on the width of their checkbooks,” said Horner.

NYPIRG created the list by running lobbyists listed with the state Public Integrity Commission against contribution data bases. They looked at the period from December 2008 until January this year — basically the period following the ’08 election cycle.

The biggest recipient of lobbying dollars — no surprise here — was Andrew Cuomo with $320,540 followed by David Paterson at $218,933 and the Democratic State Senate committee with $158,765.

“Lobbying money flows to power,” noted Horner.

Scroll down to see the top individual donors that NYPIRG was able to find and top recipients.

(On the chart below, the first column of dollars lists the amount from the firm followed by individuals at the firm and then the total.)